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marriage. And I say again, the sooner this selection is made, after we have reached the stormy No matter if it be at

The union need not,

period of life, the better. the early age of sixteen. and probably should not be consummated, till twenty-five; but if your hearts are united, you gain nearly all the benefits of friendship that you would if it were. Your companion elect cannot fail, if he is what he ought to be-and if not, it were better that the consummation should never take place—to act the part of true friendship, so far as circumstances may permit, and you may thus go on with the work of self-education.

There is one thing which may seem, at first view, to diminish the necessity of seeking a friend by matrimony. Admitting that our parents and other near relatives frequently, and indeed generally, fail to act the part of good and true friends, does not that giving of the heart to God which the Bible (whose authority is supposed to be acknowledged by all those for whom I am writing) enjoins, secure that object? Does it not secure to us that wisdom which cometh from above, and which cannot, of course, be less valuable than earthly friendship? And does it not also secure to us the true friendship of our brethren with whom we are associated?

Of the friendship of God-however indispensable and valuable—I did not intend to speak particularly in this work. But I am sorry to say, that so far as I have observed, we do not derive those advantages of true friendship from our brethren in the church which, from the nature of the relation, might be expected. That we do not, is indeed a great mistake. But since it is a fact, and cannot at once be wholly remedied, we must take the only course which remains. Nor can this relation ever be wholly substituted for the other, because it can never be so constant or intimate.

There is one partial substitute more. Our enemies, if we have any, are frequently our best friends, short of a matrimonial friend. They will be apt to tell us some truth. They will not scruple, it is true, to tell more than the truth, in too many instances; but this should not prevent us from reaping the benefit of the good they actually do us, in amending the faults they disclose.

The thought that our enemies are our best friends, in any case, short of the relation of husband and wife, is indeed painful; but if it be just—if the fact be so-should it be suppressed? Besides, will it not greatly enhance the general importance of matrimony? And in the present age, when there is such an obvious increase of celibacy, as well as

of licentiousness, is not this a matter of the highest importance?

All this general reasoning, it may be thought, is misplaced-directed to the wrong individual. The object is, to show the importance-ay, and the necessity, too-on the part of the young wife, of being what God, in nature, and especially in the divine institution of matrimony, intended she should be. That the husband requires, more than the wife, such counsel as this, does not prove that the wife needs it not at all. Besides, the saying that he who would have friends must first be friendly, will apply here with peculiar force. The wife who wishes ardently to have her husband act the part of a true friend, must set the example. As "love, and love only, is the loan for love," so friendship only, is the loan for friendship—I mean, for a friendship which is permanent and worth possessing.

Let not the reader smile at what she may choose to call a long philosophical effort to prove the necessity of her being a friend to her husband. She may not feel its necessity, in her own case; and it may not, possibly, be needed. But for one who needs not to consider the subject—carefully, and I may say prayerfully too-there are, I am sure, a hundred who do. But if not-if the re

marks of this chapter are so obviously misapplied as to impair the public confidence in the general merits of the book, such a result will so raise my estimate of human nature, that I shall not regret to see the book itself consigned to oblivion.

CHAPTER VIII.

LOVE.

Is it necessary for love to decline after marriage? Internal love increases. Means of increasing it. Doing good to others makes us love them. Anecdotes; the little girlthe deist. Love, a matter within our own control. General rule. Cautions.

yet I fear that, in too

It would excite a smile were I to exhort you, in so many words, to love your husbands. And many instances, no exhortation is more needed. I fear that as society is now constituted, the love of many a young wife is very far from being what it ought to be.

There is a very general opinion abroad, that the love of husband and wife must, after marriage, necessarily begin to decline. Or if it can be kept up at all, that it can only be done by special or extraordinary exertion. This, in my view, is a great mistake.

I know there is a species of love, if it deserves the name, which declines soon after marriage; and it is no matter if it does. If there is nothing but this which attracts a young couple-if the

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